[monolithed]

function loadXMLString(string) {
    if(window.DOMParser) {
        var XMLString =  new DOMParser().parseFromString(string, "text/xml");
    }
    else {
         var version = ['MSXML2.DOMDocument',
                        'MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0',
                        'MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0',
                        'MSXML2.DOMDocument.5.0',
                        'MSXML2.DOMDocument.6.0'],
        i = version.length;
 
        while(i--) {
            try {
                var XMLString = new ActiveXObject(version[i]);
            }
            catch(error) {
                //throw new Error(error.message);
            }
        }
        XMLString.async = 'false';
        XMLString.loadXML(string);
    }
    return XMLString;
}

var xml = loadXMLString(
    '<parent>\
        <element>text<element>\
    </parent>'
);

function getData(node) {
    var childrens = node.childNodes,
        i = childrens.length,
        array = [];
    while(i--) {
        var data = node.childNodes[i];
        data.hasChildNodes() && array.unshift(data);
    }
    return array;
}

alert(getData(xml.documentElement)[0].firstChild.nodeValue);

дальше тем же/подобным макаром сами